Catching Up [on hold]

Friend

The next day, I cycled to school with Aran, since Andrew went earlier than us. I cycled while check-listing the things I did yesterday in my mind. That's when I remembered I haven't called Leo,"Oh man."

"What is it this time?", Aran sighed.

"No, I just...never mind."

"Well, at least don't forget to make friends with Abby. Remember what Matt said," he said and parted to the Senior Labs building.

I went to my junior high garage and locked my bike in my usual bike rack. I walked to the building entrance. "Ayle, why didn't you call me?", a voice from behind inquired. I turned around and saw Leo. He had his straight face on.

"Oh yeah, sorry Leo. I forgot all about the call. You know I'm preoccupied."

"Okay then,"

"What is it that you want to tell me?"

"Well, you see...", just then the bell rang. I sighed. I've got to wait again. "Well, see you in class," I turned and mumbled, "Guess I'm sitting alone again."

I got to my desk and slung my bag on the table hook (we don't move classes and we don't have any lockers. The teachers are the ones who visit our classes). Suddenly a boy came over to my desk. "Can I sit here?", he asked. "Oh, yeah sure," I thought about Leo and the others. They wouldn't even bother a thread to sit next to me because of the new Abby, so I guess it's okay for him to sit next to me. I'll just make new friends. Why bother about Abby? "So what's your name?", I asked.
"Luther Garner,"

"So I'll call you Luther?"

"Yup. I thought I already introduced myself yesterday,"

"Maybe. I wasn't paying attention,"

"I can see...."

"See what?", just then the Ms. Angel walked in. So class started like that. And just for you to know, Abby practically answered almost all of the teacher's questions without giving us a chance to try. What was really annoying, the teachers didn't even bother to ask the others for answers. Instead, "Perfect, Abigail," was what they kept on saying like a broken radio.

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The dismissal bell rang. My classmates rushed out as soon as Abby rushed out, asking all kinds of questions, "Hey, how did you answer that?", "You're soooo cool!", and whatever I didn't want to hear. Funny thing, Luther was waiting for me.
"You're not rushing out too?", I asked confused.

"Well, no. I didn't find anything special to make me rush out", he said plainly.

"Oh, so what are you doing now?", I asked again.

"Just waiting to be picked up," he packed his books.

"I see...", I walked out, "Bye," I said.

"Bye."

I walked while thinking that at least I have a new friend. I smiled.

As I emerged to the lobby (the three buildings have one combined lobby--looks like three different buildings but is actually one, you see it from different angles), other kids with elementary and junior high uniforms swooshed around. But this didn't mean I couldn't spot Abby and friends. They just somehow stand out among others. I could clearly see them playing Truth or Dare. At first I thought about walking over and trying to make friends, but as soon as Abby flashed me one of her evil smiles, I changed my mind right away. She annoys me. And I annoy her (which makes me happy... I know it's evil, but it's just the way things are).

I decided to walk around the side lobby. It's basically where the boys play basketball and stuff. I spotted Matt talking with Jay, and Cliff. I was pretty sure they were talking about games, which I find really boring. Matt spotted me and gestured to come to them. I skipped briskly.

"Hey bros!", I always have a good feeling that Matt and the other boys will make me at least a bit happy.

"Hello Ayle!", they said in unison. "How's school?" Jay asked smiling.

"Do you really have to be sarcastic here?", I slumped on the floor beside Cliff.

I looked at them and asked, "Hey, where's Andrew?"

"I bet he's somewhere up there with Kara Berkley," Matt chuckled along with the other boys.

"What do you mean? He what?!", I sat up straight.

"He's probably upstairs with Kara like he always does," Cliff blurted and they broke to chuckles again.

"You mean...he likes her?", I said wide-eyed at Cliff.

"Yeah maybe...or maybe she likes him too!", Jay said and the three of them laughed even harder.

"Wow," I said talking to myself leaning back again. Kara is like...the obnoxious girl of the school. Pretty but obnoxious. Nobody really likes her because she's mean and never pays attention to anyone except herself. But I can assure you, pretty she is.

Suddenly a group of people entered the side lobby. The boys stopped laughing and I looked up. Abby and friends. "This sucks," I said under my breath. People who were playing games on their phones stopped and looked up to. The guys playing basketball also paused their game to look back. It's like everybody was in freeze mode, that only I and the girls were moving. Abigail Hamilton, Carey, Kate and other girls walked their "runway catwalk" with those so-called flashy smiles. There were murmurs around the lobby.

You know what she did? You couldn't believe it. She walked to me together with the other girls and bent down to me. I could feel Matt, Cliff, and Jay's eyes widened.

"Ashleigh? Hi there. I would like to be your friend, would you accept me?", she said with the gentlest voice she could make and the softest smile she could smile.

My brain was working like crazy fast. I really felt like I wanted to go pee. Finally I knew what to say and blurted out, "Wow. Everybody could be my friend. Can't you see it Abigail?" I felt my ears go hot, but I had to stay cool.

"I see, of course. So I'll see you around tomorrow with your friends!", she rolled her almond eyes to the boys then flashed her smile.

She turned around followed by Kelly, Kate, and Carey. Kelly said, "Bye, Ashleigh!", she said in a friendly way. Then the whole lobby started working again like it used to be. "I can't believe what I saw," I said breathlessly and slumped back against the wall. "So Ayle, maybe she's not that bad. She was so friendly," Matt said looking at me. "Yeah, just open up a bit," Jay said. "Maybe. Where's Andrew? I'll just rush him home," I took my backpack and unlocked my phone. "We'll take you," Cliff said and they stood up together with me and we went to the senior and junior high library.

Okay, so there he was sitting across Kara Berkley reading a book, about what I don't know. The other three musketeers, Matt and Cliff and Jay (I'll just call them that now), were chuckling to themselves. I walked up to Andrew and Kara's table.

"Hey, bro. We need to go home," I held his shoulder. He looked up at Kara. "Oh, I'm sorry if I disturbed your time together," I flashed my million dollar smile to Kara. I could tell that my brother started to feel embarrassed that he was caught together with Kara so he closed the book and stood up. "I'm going home. See you," he said to Kara. Kara just looked at him with her so-called beautiful eyes. She stood up and put her book away without responding to him. She walked to the computer section. I could tell she liked him too, because she acted nicer than she does to everyone else. Andrew saw the three musketeers sitting together with their arms crossed smiling at him. I had to hide my laughter, so I just walked out of the library with Andrew behind.

The three musketeers followed too and they kidded Andrew all the way 'till the garage. Andrew just blushed saying 'it's not true'. I unlocked my bike and sat on it. My phone rang. "Hullo? Yes, we're about to go. Okay, mom," and I pressed 'end call'. "We need to go and cool the house. Mom and dad's gonna have a late night out so we need to prepare dinner ourselves. Let's get going," I informed Andrew. "Bye guys, see ya around," I waved to the three musketeers. Andrew waved at them. "Bye," they said in unison. And then again, I forgot all about Leo.